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INTRODUCTION
Since signing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Philippines has
strengthened its efforts in enforcing the rights of all children, increasing public awareness of
child abuse, and creating programs for maltreated children. As a result, the Philippines
observed a dramatic increase in the number of reported cases of maltreatment and,
consequently, a rise in the number of court hearings for perpetrators of child abuse.
For many of these hearings, it is the interview of the child and the findings of the physician
performing the medico-legal examination that may determine the outcome of a case. Given the
importance placed upon the physician’s findings and testimony, as well as the difficulty
involved in interpreting this evidence, it becomes all the more important to standardize the
terminology utilized by physicians for describing child maltreatment so that it can be
understood by judges, lawyers and any other professionals involved in child abuse cases.
Beginning in 2000, a technical working group – comprised of lawyers, judges and physicians
from the National Bureau of Investigation’s Medico-Legal Division and Violence Against
Women and Children Division (VAWCD), the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory
and Women’s Crisis and Child Protection Center (WCCPC), the Philippine General Hospital
Child Protection Unit (PGH-CPU) and the Department of Health – came together to examine
the vocabulary used by child protection physicians throughout the world. Culling through
various terms, the working group agreed upon a comprehensive and up-to-date child protection
lexicon, and finalized the definitions for ambiguous terms. The working group then devised a
common medical certificate that can be utilized by physicians of child protection units, the
Department of Health, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Philippine National Police, or
other public and private medical institutions, and that will be recognized by judges and legal
professionals across the country.
Notably, the Philippines will be the first country in the world to incorporate a uniform medicolegal
terminology and certificate into its national child protection system.